St.

• made intercession for the transgressors." Paul says, (1 Tim. ii. 5, 6.) For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and

C man, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due ' time.' (Heb. ix. 26.) But now, once in the

And as

end of the world hath he appeared, to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. ' it is appointed unto men once to die, but after death the judgment; so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the se'cond time, without sin, unto salvation.' St. Peter says, (1 Pet. iii. 18.) For Christ ' also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust; that he might bring us to 'God.'

6

Isaiah says, (liii. 9.) He made his grave with 'the wicked, and with the rich, in his death.' We are informed by the evangelists, that Jesus was crucified in a place called Golgotha, or the place of a skull; which was probably so called from its being the place of burial for the male

factors who had been executed there. * St. John further says, (ch. xix. 41, and 42.) Now, '

6

6

in the place where Jesus was crucified, there

was a garden, and in this garden a new sepul

chre, wherein was never man yet laid; there laid they Jesus therefore, because of the Jews' preparation, for the sepulchre was nigh at

'hand.'

Here, then, we may see and admire the exact ⚫ completion of this famous prophecy of Isaiah, 'He made his grave with the wicked, and with 'the rich, in his death. He was buried like the 'wicked companions of his death, under the

6

general leave granted to the Jews for taking down their bodies from the cross; and was, like them, buried in, or near the place of exe'cution.

"But here the distinction, foreseen and fore'told many hundred years before, took place in 'favour of Jesus; who, though numbered with

* See West on the Resurrection, Sec. xviii. page 209.

.6

'the transgressors, had done no violence, neither ' was there any deceit in his mouth; for Joseph ' of Arimathea, a rich man, and an honourable counsellor, (Matth. xxvii. 57.- Mark xv. 43. — John xix. 38.) and Nicodemus, a man of the Pharisees, a ruler of the Jews, a master of Israel, conspired to make his grave with the rich, by 'wrapping his body in linen cloaths, with a mix

6

<

ture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pounds weight, and laying it in a new sepulchre, hewed or hollowed into a rock, which Joseph "of Arimathea had caused to be made for his

own use; circumstances which evidently show, 'that he was not only buried by the rich, but ⚫ like the rich also, according to the prophecy.' (West on the Resurrection, page 210.)

Isaiah says, (ver. 12.) • Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he 'shall divide the spoil with the strong; because ' he hath poured out his soul unto death.' St.

Paul says of Jesus, (Phil. ii. 8.) Being found ' in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and

• became obedient unto death, even the death of

• the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is ' above every name; that at the name of Jesus 6 every knee should bow; of (things) in heaven, and in earth, and under the earth: and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ ' is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. The same doctrine respecting Jesus is taught throughout the whole of the New Testament. (Matth. xxviii. 18.) And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.' (See Acts ii. 33.iii. 21. Heb. i. 3.)

6

Finally, Isaiah says, he was numbered with "the transgressors;' and the evangelists tell that there were two thieves crucified with Jesus, 'the one on his right hand, the other on his left.' (Matth. xxvii. 38.) Isaiah tells us, he made

6

intercession for the transgressors;' and Luke informs us, (xxiii. 34.) that Jesus made intercession for his murderers, saying, Father, for'give them, for they know not what they do.' We are also told in Heb. vii. 25, that Jesus

'ever liveth to make intercession for them that come unto God by him.'

I have thus shown, that there is the most exact coincidency between this prophecy of Isaiah, and the life, and sufferings, and death, the character, and offices of Jesus, as described in the New Testament; and this, not in one particular, but in all. Now, as God knoweth, and declareth the end from the beginning, and 'from ancient times things that are not yet

6

done,' (Isaiah xlvi. 10.) it follows, that this coincidency must have been foreknown by the Lord when he inspired his servant Isaiah to utter this prophecy; and, consequently, that it must have been designed by Him. Therefore, God did, in this passage, design to describe Jesus as his righteous servant, who should, by his sufferings, atone for our iniquities. Consequently, as Jesus is the righteous servant of God, we must receive his testimony concerning himself; and it follows that he is the Messiah.

Oh that there were such a heart in every one of the children of Abraham who may read